If you didn’t already know, and you probably do, Thanksgiving is my most-favorite-holiday. I love food, I love cooking. I love friends, I love family, I love the lack of hype and stress around Thanksgiving. It comes as an unassuming holiday, on a Thursday! I don’t know the history behind the Thursday thing – it always confused me as a kid. But who’s to argue? I love Thursdays in general – you’re one day away from the weekend, I like the way the word sounds and is spelled, and back in the Seattle days it was an indulgent day. One consisting of pizza, cheap beer, and television indulgences by some seriously broke young adults.

Anyways, I digress.

Thanksgiving this year included my mom! I haven’t had a Thanksgiving holiday with my family in years – mid-November is just not a time I find myself back east. The last family-Tday I had was with Aunt Meg, Uncle Russ, and Curren in Portland with Russ’ family. So having mom here was really special – joining Ben’s family and a family of friends for a veritable feast.

Mom generously provided us with a turkey. In a fabulous mis-calculation, she purchased a 25+ pound turkey – ample food for 17 people, with over a pound per person available! Ben and Jeff were well up to the task of thawing it and ‘fast cooking’ it at 500 degrees. A feat they claim may never have been done before. (I love them both dearly. I’m not sure I’d suggest this method with such a large bird)

There was a patch-job done with butter. A valiant effort, indeed.

Jeff, Ben, and Mikey – cooks extraordinaire

Plenty of friends and family were missed, but we had a joyful time with lots of food and thanks. Thanks to everyone who provided such good food and fantastic conversation~I look forward to it every year!